Fork Special Tool?

I just started a topic about this a few days ago .... kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...w/id,195932/catid,5/

I made the exact looking factory took, except I used a metal fence post that needed to be thrown away or something in my friends back yard, and welded and grinded that exact shape into the fence post.

Now I have the Kawasaki tool- on a permenent extension!

All I needed was the air ratchet part, didn't need to hold it. You can get them threaded back in without holding it if you kinda pull out on the allen wrench while turning it. eventually the screw pinches the inner part down, and you can torque it.

Okay guys, I fab'd up a tool and it worked great. I took an M14 nut, which has an outer width of 22mm, and welded it to some steel rod. Then I welded another short piece of rod to make the "T" handle. The length of the tool is about 22". It fit perfectly into the "socket" of the inner cylinder, and allowed me to unscrew the socket bolt with just an 8mm hex key.

About $6 for the materials.

Here's the pic:

There is an easy way to do this if you are just going to replace the seal, you don't need to make any fancy tools, you just need an M8 Allen Key with a 1/2" drive and an Air Gun.

Removing and replacing seals is very easy. Here is what I always do:

1. remove leg as a complete assembly
2. take off the dust cover
3. remove the circlip or spring steel holding the seal down (depends on model of forks)
4. tip fork leg upside down so you can see the Allen Key in the bottom.
5. Use an M8 allen key with a 1/2" drive socket assembly and an air gun to remove cap screw.
6. Push down with air gun and apply air until the cap screw comes loose, might take upwards of two minutes.
7. Invert back and over a container to catch the oil, pull the fork tube away from the lower slider, oil seal should come away with the tube.
8. If seal does not come away, lever it out.
9. Clean up forks, install new seal to tube.
10. Fill tube with quantity of oil
11. refit tube to lower leg (reverse of the disassembly process).
12. Push seal into place and install circlip (or spring), put boot back on and re-install.

I have photos on my web site of me doing this on my z1000A2 and Gpz900R, I have also done it on my z1a and z900-A4.


z900.piczo.coom/

Yeah, I was originally going to try the air gun method, but I don't have an air gun. So I went down to HFT to see if I could find a cheap one. They had some there for $20-40. But then the only hex key's they had that would work with the air gun came in a set for $25. I really didn't want to spend $45-65 just to remove a damn bolt.

So I decided to make the tool instead. $6 for the materials, and a little welding. Worked great.

I only made my tool after I tried the impact wrench and it failed on my 1300. I'd say the impact method has worked for me about half the time. Now that I know how easy it is to fab the right tool I'll go that way and avoid the frustration.

kzcsi

Just finished rebuilding my front forks and thought I'd pass along so lessons learned:

I made a tool just like Skyman's but the kz750/4's (and I assume 650's need to have a 19 mm demension on the outside of the hex nut. A 1/2 inch nut works great 'cause the outside demension is just slightly less than 19mm and works great. I think this has been mentioned before in another thread.

The hex nut at the bottom of the fork is 8mm (cost me a couple of trips to the hardware store to figure that out)

To drive the fork seal into place, a 2 ft piece of 1-1/2 inch Schedule 80 PVC works great.

Now I just have to wait for my wheel bearings to come in

The hex nut/bolt works for the 650 SR, but I had to make my own tapered rod for the 650B.

Wow a lot of sizes and ideas put forth here!
Maybe I or someone should produce a cross chart by model number/year to bolt size so those who come to KZR later can easily see the bolt size they need for their bike.

I made a tool for my KZ1000E1 but I'd have to check it for size as I can't remember what it was, the KZ550F2 was a 19mm/3/4" bolt size. On the 550's I just use the bolt with two nuts jammed together as the special tool and then a socket with a couple of extensions.

I think KZ_Rage has a really good idea. Maybe under Filebase or Articles we could put together a set of pic/Spec for these fork cylinders because you can't see them well when they're in the fork tubes. Here's a shot of the fork cylinder for the '77 KZ650C1 (Part Number 44022-1004). Because the opening is round, the only way to hold it is with something round that wedges into the hole. I'll show another pic in the next post:

[img size=150][/img]

Here's a different pic of the KZ650C1 fork cylinder end:

[img size=150][/img]